Nearly 180,000 new graduates are needed to meet demand for workers in the country’s 12 key industries over the next five years, says the Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council (NXPO).
The so-called S-curve industries are targeted as the main engines for the country’s economic growth.
They consist of industrial robotics; medical hubs; aviation and logistics; bioenergy and biochemical; digital; advanced agriculture and biotechnology; food; future mobility; intelligent electronics; luxury and medical tourism; national defence; and workforce development and education.
“There is demand for new graduates to serve as engineers, data scientists, technicians, developers and marketing staff to boost the country’s S-curve industries; there would be 177,606 positions available,” said NXPO president Kitipong Promwong, citing a survey of industry labour demand from 2020 to 2024.
The digital industry would see the largest demand for workforce over the next five years with 30,742 workers sought.
Of them, 5,767 data scientists would be needed, followed by 5,287 full-stack developers, while 2,405 mobile developers would be wanted.
In the robotics industry, 10,020 people would be needed over the next five years.
Based on the NXPO’s survey report, the country’s robot production is still minimal and most of the robots used in Thailand are imported, such as those from Japan and Germany.
Although the country’s robot demand continues to rise, the usage is not enough to draw foreign firms to set up robot-manufacturing plants in Thailand, the report said.
In this industry, there would be demand for 2,697 data scientists, 1,869 robotic controls engineers and 1,862 mechanical engineers.
Medical hubs, meanwhile, could need 17,732 people over the next five years. Of them, 1,505 people would be needed for clinical investigators, 1,354 for bioprocess engineers or technicians and 273 for biomedical engineers.
For the aviation and logistics sector, 29,289 employees are expected to be needed, including 7,914 ground service officers, 3,920 warehouse officers or inventory controllers and 2,356 project engineers.
According to the report, 9,836 positions would be needed for the bioenergy and biochemical industry, 14,907 for advanced agriculture and biotechnology, 12,458 for the food industry, 12,231 for future mobility, 6,434 for intelligent electronics, 15,432 for high wealth and medical tourism, 5,219 for national defence and 13,306 for education and workforce development.
